Lewis Hamilton Takes Blame For Italian GP Loss As Pierre Gasly Wins Maiden F1 Race

Lewis Hamilton has taken the blame for the error that cost him the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, which was eventually won by Pierre Gasly.

Hamilton had a smooth start to the race and was well ahead of second-placed Carlos Sainz after poor starts from title rivals Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas. The reigning champion looked in a comfortable place to clinch his career’s 90th Grand Prix victory and that could have stretched his lead further in the drivers’ championship of this season.

However, the Brit’s race began to fall apart when a safety car was introduced after Kevin Magnussen's Haas broke down by the side of the pit-lane entry. Due to the positioning of the Haas broken car, Hamilton missed the board that said the drivers weren’t allowed to enter the pits.

Hamilton and Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi were the only two drivers who still went on to pit and as a result, they were immediately put under investigation. The race was red-flagged following Charles Leclerc's crash that looked scary, but luckily, the driver was not hurt. During the break, Mercedes driver Hamilton met the stewards, and soon, his 10-second penalty was confirmed, which Hamilton served at the end of the first lap on restart of the race.

"My race wasn't meant to be today, it was a bit unfortunate. Honestly, I didn't see those boards so I take responsibility for that. It's something I will learn from," Hamilton told Sky Sports in a post-race interview.

Hamilton finished seventh but took a bonus point for registering the fastest lap of the race. With Bottas finishing outside the podium at No. 5 and Verstappen failing to finish the race, Hamilton still leads the championship race by 47 points.

The six-time world champion also congratulated Gasly, who was dropped by Red Bull in 2018 and now had won his maiden F1 race.

"I need to say a huge congratulations to Pierre because that's a fantastic result for him. I've obviously seen what he's been through from being dropped from the top team [Red Bull] and now he's beat the top team. It's such fantastic to see him recover and to generally see him grow. I am genuinely really happy for him," added Hamilton in the same Sky Sports interview.